'You kind of ruined it with your trans obsession': House points fingers as Smithsonian Women's museum funding fails | Fortune

A proposal to place a Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum on the National Mall faced partisan conflict after Republicans revised the legislation to ensure transgender people would not be included in exhibits. The House rejected the revised bill by a vote of 204-216, leaving next steps uncertain. The revised bill would also ban a “diversity” of views and give President Donald Trump the final say on the museum’s location. Democrats criticized the changes as driven by culture-war concerns, while Republicans said Democrats were overreacting and blocking progress. Some Republicans opposed the museum itself, arguing it would isolate groups rather than unite the country.

"The House rejected the bill, 204-216, an outcome that leaves the next steps uncertain. The revised bill also would ban a “diversity” of views and give President Donald Trump the final say on where the museum would be located. “It was a simple bill. You kind of ruined it with your trans obsession and your culture wars,” Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, a Democrat from New Mexico and chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, said earlier in the week."

"Republicans argued it was Democrats who were overreacting to the changes and now threatening progress toward establishing the long-sought women’s museum in the nation’s capital. Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York, the bill’s chief sponsor, said “it’s a disgrace” that Democrats would be standing in the way of the bill’s passage. “Perhaps the party that is opposing a women’s history museum on the National Mall because they want to have transgender exhibits - maybe they are the ones who are trans obsessed,” Malliotakis said."

"In the final tally, a handful of Republicans voted against the bill, joining Democrats who led the opposition. The chamber came to a standstill as GOP leaders scrounged for support from their ranks. Among the Republican opponents, some conservatives simply disapproved of a museum focused on women at all. “We say we need to unite this country, but then we isolate every group,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., who was among several from the conservative Freedom Caucus who voted against it."

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